My letter to the ABC managing director over its "Story of the Century" defamation of President Trump

Victoria's Jury Directions Act will feature in the Pell appeal and the ongoing Shorten matter

Travelling for the next 8 hours - posts will be light today

My letter to the ABC managing director over its "Story of the Century" defamation of President Trump

Tuesday, 10 March 2020

The President's legal counsel have been copied on the original email.

Dear Mr Anderson

On Monday, 4 June 2018 the ABC commenced publication (which continues online today) of the ABC 4 Corners 3 part series "The Story of The Century" which includes the central defamatory assertion, quote:

"...that members of the Trump team, including possibly the President himself, actively colluded with Russia to subvert American democracy".

https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/trumprussia:-follow-the-money/9840958

That claim was investigated by a US Special Counsel who reported:

"the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities".

The ABC must now know that its "central allegation" is a false, misleading and defamatory statement about The President of our closest ally.

Defamation proceedings over similar facts

On 6 March 2020 Counsel for the Trump campaign J. David Hopkins and Charles J. Harder commenced proceedings (attached) against the US CNN broadcaster for similar publications to those made by the ABC, alleging:

Defendants CNN Broadcasting, Inc., CNN Productions, Inc. and CNN Interactive Group, Inc. (collectively, "CNN") published false and defamatory statements of and concerning the Campaign,

The US legal proceedings were brought:

to publicly establish the truth, properly inform CNN's readers and audience (and the rest of the world) of the true facts, and seek appropriate remedies for the harm caused by CNN's false reporting and failure to retract and apologize for it.

Australian taxpayer exposure

The ABC continues to publish false and defamatory material about The President.

https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/trumprussia:-follow-the-money/9840958

The ABC must now know that its "central allegation, that members of the Trump team, including possibly the President himself, actively colluded with Russia to subvert American democracy" is a misleading and damaging fiction, yet it has not corrected the record.

The ABC is now aware that legal action seeking millions of dollars in damages has been taken against another broadcaster for publishing similar false, misleading and defamatory material.

Further, the ABC has taken no steps on its "Story of the Century" publication

to publicly report the truth,
to properly inform the ABC's readers and audience of the true facts
to retract; and
to apologize for its false reporting

Request

Can you please inform me of what action, if any, you propose to take to retract, apologise for and correct the ABC's false and misleading reportage?

How will you limit Australian taxpayer exposure to any damages flowing from the ABC's false, misleading, defamatory and damaging publication?

Yours sincerely,

Michael Smith

www.michaelsmithnews.com

NB - I propose to treat this as a public communication.

Trump v CNN by Michael Smith on Scribd

Posted at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (52)

Comments

The President's legal counsel have been copied on the original email.

Dear Mr Anderson

"...that members of the Trump team, including possibly the President himself, actively colluded with Russia to subvert American democracy".

https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/trumprussia:-follow-the-money/9840958

That claim was investigated by a US Special Counsel who reported:

"the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities".

The ABC must now know that its "central allegation" is a false, misleading and defamatory statement about The President of our closest ally.

Defamation proceedings over similar facts

Defendants CNN Broadcasting, Inc., CNN Productions, Inc. and CNN Interactive Group, Inc. (collectively, "CNN") published false and defamatory statements of and concerning the Campaign,

The US legal proceedings were brought:

to publicly establish the truth, properly inform CNN's readers and audience (and the rest of the world) of the true facts, and seek appropriate remedies for the harm caused by CNN's false reporting and failure to retract and apologize for it.

Australian taxpayer exposure

The ABC continues to publish false and defamatory material about The President.

https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/trumprussia:-follow-the-money/9840958

The ABC is now aware that legal action seeking millions of dollars in damages has been taken against another broadcaster for publishing similar false, misleading and defamatory material.

Further, the ABC has taken no steps on its "Story of the Century" publication

to publicly report the truth,
to properly inform the ABC's readers and audience of the true facts
to retract; and
to apologize for its false reporting

Request

Can you please inform me of what action, if any, you propose to take to retract, apologise for and correct the ABC's false and misleading reportage?

How will you limit Australian taxpayer exposure to any damages flowing from the ABC's false, misleading, defamatory and damaging publication?

Yours sincerely,

Michael Smith

www.michaelsmithnews.com

NB - I propose to treat this as a public communication.

Trump v CNN by Michael Smith on Scribd

DATE	EVENT/DOCUMENT
1990	Julia Gillard becomes a Partner at Slater and Gordon and is in the Industrial Relations Department of law firm
20-08-91	Letter to Bruce Wilson from Julia Gillard concerning a vacancy at the AWU
1-05-91	Julia Gillard brought her property at 36 Phillip Street, Abbotsford Vic property settled in July and she borrowed $40,000 from Slater & Gordon for the deposit and the rest from Westpac bank
6-03-92	Advertisement appeared in the paper for Incorporating the Workplace Reform Association - Theiss may have used it for reference

17-03-92	Locals concerned the Accident and Death Fund was being used to buy property and office equipment with the funds they paid into the fund.
18-03-92	Boulder fund suspended
15-05-92	Bruce Wilson and Julia Gillard go to a meeting with the miners in Kalgoorlie
18-05-92	AWU announce it is taking over the fund at Boulder paper article
13-02-93	Contract of sale signed by Bruce Wilson
13-02-93	Purchase of 85 Kerr Street Fitzroy by Julia Gillard and B Wilson who attended the Auction
13-02-93	blewitt-getting-his-addres.html Purchase of 85 Kerr Street Fitzroy by Julia Gillard and Bruce Wilson who attended the Auction
15-02-93	Letter to Slater & Gordon about the 1/85 Kerr Street sale
15-02-93	Ralph Blewitt is appointed Western Australian Branch Secretary in the week 15 to 19 February
16-02-93	Olive Brosnan and Heidi chasing up the Power of Attorney - notes
17-02-93	Olive Brosnan makes this further note regarding Heidi, a sales person with the Real Estate firm GA Thomson. Note that Heidi returns the call and says that she will let Olive Brosnan have the original Power of Attorney (when she gets it?) and will need a certified copy in return
22-02-93	Slater and Gordon acknowledges that it has received the Contract of Sale, Section 32 Statement and the Power of Attorney from GA Thomson.
23-02-93	Olive Brosnan certifies Power of Attorney
3-03-93	A memo from Sylvia to Olive Brosnan about the application for the loan for Ralph Blewitt and the Kerr Street property
4-03-93	Letter/fax from Hewitt & Company stating Ralph Blewitt Wages Ref VB/CS
9-03-93	Memo to Olive Brosnan from Sylvia about the loan approval and the return of the chq for $500 from Ralph Blewitt’s personal account
10-03-93	Letter from Slater & Gordon addressed to Ralph Blewitt explaining mortgage details Page 1, Page 2, Page 3
10-03-93	Memo Julia Gillard wants details of penalty interest rates
12-03-93	Memo to Julia Gillard from Olive Brosnan about penalty interest rates
17-03-93	Memo of fees for house - Bill of costs
18-03-93	Letter to Ralph Blewitt requesting Cheque for $67,772.30
18-03-93	The cheque for $67,772.30
22-03-93	Settlement date for Kerr Street purchase
23-03-93	Land Transfer document
31-03-94	Dawesville project costs
Aug-Sept 94	Julia Gillard went on holidays while Bruce Wilson organised house renovations
Aug-Sept 94	Interview with Slater & Gordon about the Renovations
6-02-95	New bank accounts for Construction Fund
17-02-95	AWU-FIME amalgamate (2 Victorian Branches)
12-04-95	Cheque from AWU WRAI account $46,550
27-04-95	Cheque for $15000 - $10 000 for K Spyridis and $5000 cash
30-06-95	AWU went back to central funding arrangements
25-07-95	Letter from Robert Smith (AWU) to Ian Cambridge and Steve Harrison about the unknown AWU bank accounts
27-07-95	Letter to the National Executives about the freezing of the accounts
2-08-95	Union National Finance committee meet to discuss what was going on start of investigations into the frozen accounts
4-08-95	Bob Smith wrote to Ian Cambridge to say the AWU was going to charge Bruce Wilson
10-08-95	Ian Cambridge visits QC Richard Kenzie from Maurice Blackburn for discussions to fix it (get union money back)
14-08-95	Internal Review into Julia Gillard’s involvement of the AWU -WRA and she is put on restricted duties
14/15 Aug 95	Other Joint secretaries of the Unions paid out the signatories of the accounts - hand writing on the cheques Link 1 Link 2
16-08-95	Bruce Wilson redundancy cheque $55,204
17-08-95	Letter to stop the cheques Ian Cambridge
17/18 Aug 95	All accounts were closed bar 2 general and grants accounts and redundancies given out
18-08-95	Affidavit - Bill Ludwig - Bruce Wilson get sprung
11-09-95	Julia Gillard interviewed by Geoff Shaw, Peter Gordon and Nick Styant-Browne at Slater and Gordon - It’s recorded and she goes on leave of Absence until May 96 (WA AWU-WRA not yet discovered by AWU yet)
31-01-96	Ian Cambridge addresses AWU Qld Branch meeting
3-04-96	Ian Cambridge talked with Commonwealth Bank - Diary entry - Discovery of Workplace Reform Association INC. WA branch
6-05-96	Discovery of Accounts in AWU name by Ian Cambridge letter from Commonwealth Bank
7-05-96	Fax from Com bank listing the accounts in the AWU name - for Ian Cambridge
1-06-96	Newspaper article about Joe Trio and the AWU fraud article from sometime in 1996
3-06-96	Ian Cambridge received bank records after the discussions with the bank back in April Ian Cambridge spoke to AWU Officials in Perth and they never heard of the Workplace Reform Association Inc.
5-07-96	Diary entry Ian Cambridge - spoke to Branch Official Russell Frearson about the $400,000 going through the account
31-07-96	Geoff Shaw Slater & Gordon General Manager gets Subpoena to supply all documents relating to purchase of 1/85 Kerr Street
13-08-96	Court proceeding where Geoff Shaw is to produce the documents from the Subpeona Link 1, Link 2
6-01-97	Memo from Investigating Detective Dave McAlpine about the AWU fraud
6-02-97	Memo to fraud squad from Theiss stating they hadn’t been defrauded Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4
17-02-98	Memo fraud squad about Theiss - Ralph Blewitt said Theiss auditors required that the WRA needed to be Inc.